1. Check to see if your eggs have holes in the top and the bottom. If not, you will need to make a hole in the eggs with a drill.

2. Start by threading the string through one of the whole eggs.

Tie a knot at the bottom so that the egg won't slip off and add the dried beans. Close the egg and tape it together. Leave a long length of thread on the end and cut it.

3. Thread the egg halves onto the string.

{During this step, we were able to talk about colors and patterns.}

4. Thread the string through the bottom and then the top of the second whole egg for the head. Make a knot in the string and cut any remaining string, leaving 1 1/2 - 2" for the snake's tongue. Add eyes and nostrils with a permanent marker as shown in the picture at top.

1. Measure 4-inches from the bottom of the bottle and draw a 1/2 in. asterisk on the side of the bottle. Rotate the bottle 90 degrees and make another asterisk 2-inches from the bottom of the bottle.

2. Draw a 1-inch wide circle on the opposite side of each asterisk. With the craft knife, cut out the circles and slit along the lines of the asterisks. Insert the spoons through the circle and then through the asterisks on the opposite side.

3. Use a funnel {we made our own paper funnels} and a scoop to fill the bird feeder with birdseed.

4. Twist a large hook into the bottle cap, put the cap on the bottle and hang it in a tree.

My mom can sew anything from a wedding dress to a cabbage patch doll. Unfortunately, I did not inherit her sewing talent.

Despite my lack of sewing skills, I somehow managed to convince my new husband of just six months that I could make curtains for our apartment and baby clothes for our future children if I only had a sewing machine. My gift on our first Christmas as husband and wife was a brand new Kenmore sewing machine.

That was 7 years ago.

In those seven years, I have made one shepherd's costume for our little boy who was supposed to be in a Sunday School Christmas play. Things didn't go as planned that day and it turns out all my hard work was for not.

When I noticed these Fat Quarter Bags on Pinterest, I decided it was time to dust off the sewing machine and give it another try. My husband didn't bother to hide his surprise.

It took me three tries to get those handles on correctly, but what a sense of accomplishment when I finally got it right! They will fit perfectly in the Operation Christmas Child boxes that I am working on this year.

Since I thought the original directions were written for a more experienced seamstress, I put together a tutorial for beginners: